


Mouse Trap

by chaoticbeing



Series: Everything's the Same, except a Rat got in [1]
Category: Baby Driver (2017)
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Misc. Goons, Pre-Canon, There's a part transcribing ASL, guess i can't introduce a character without backstory so here you go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-10-20 20:19:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17629001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticbeing/pseuds/chaoticbeing
Summary: There's a pest that's costing Doc hundreds of dollars in damage. Baby's gonna meet them, and they're going to be somehow everything he expected and something brand new.





	1. Cat and Rat

    Someone was stealing Doc’s stash.

    Doc, obviously, was not happy about it. He came into a meeting fuming, and Baby had to watch as he almost slammed his hand against the meeting table to wake up everyone in the crew who had been waiting for what this gig was.

    “Don’t go thinking that your work for me is going to be bank explosions and car chases.” Doc explained, punching each word, he obviously didn’t want anyone to make a sound of disappointment or to reject what he was saying in any way.

    Baby had seen Doc mad before, but not like this, not to the point that his cheeks had flushed red and he had gathered a whole new crew just to deal with the problem. It was easy to read his lips like this, however, each word pushed out perfectly.

    “We have a rat.” Doc hisses.

    A rat?

    Baby had been told about this earlier. A pat on the back and a warning that Doc was going to be yelling the next meeting, and Baby could see the anger simmering under his skin as he explained the situation.

    He said that someone, over the span of the past several months, had been getting into the weapons and drugs Doc liked to use as bribery.

    Several months and Doc hadn’t noticed. Baby considered that meant the person knew what the hell they were doing, because almost nothing gets passed Doc.

    With his hand curling onto the fabric of Baby’s jacket, he continued to explain, that not only were these important items being taken from right under his nose, but also that they had been found on the market.

    Someone was stealing them and selling them for their own profit.

    So, Doc told Baby that he had gotten a team together specifically for catching them. For Baby to turn his music up loud, loud enough that everyone else could hear it, because Doc was going to yell.

    Baby had just never heard the person be called a “rat” before now.

    However, if any nickname were to be fitting for whoever this was, this was one of them. A rat, an animal that goes in and nips away damage over time, until it's suddenly too much and a homeowner is hundreds of dollars in the hole.

    So quietly, he watched as Doc went on his tangent about this Rat and what he had been doing. Baby knew all this information, so Baby had “DON’T HESITATE” blasting in his earbuds. It was the most he could do to drown out the yelling.

    When Doc seemed to have calmed down, Baby reached into his pocket and turned down the volume slightly.

    Everything seemed to have adjusted slightly.

    Looking around the room, Baby noted the disappointment on the other crew members' faces. They wanted fast cars and fast cash. This spy-movie bullshit wasn't what they signed up for, was it?

    "Here's my plan."

    Doc slapped his hand against the chalkboard. Everyone jerked up except for Baby, because Baby had his eyes trained to be on Doc.

    "We set up some poison for the damn pest. Figure out the best, high-selling weapon we can get our hands on, and set it up."

    They were going to try to lure the rat out. They would be tempted to snag it, then once they got close, someone-

    "Sabertooth."

    Baby looked towards where Doc's eyes lead him. That fell on a tan man with muscles to show it, looking like he ripped the sleeves off of his own shirt. His hair was tied back into a low ponytail, and everything about him screamed "feline".

    Of course Doc chose the sabertooth tiger to hunt down and catch the rat. It was all too fitting.

    Doc had a thing with symbolism, he enjoyed things looking good together, he enjoyed how he could get crews with similar nicknames or similar backstories. A team from Las Vegas, or one with everyone covered in tats.

    "Pussycat," A blonde woman with colorful streaks in her hair peered up from picking at her sharp nails.

    "You're in charge of figuring out the bait." Doc explained.

    Baby could usually piece together what the theme of a crew was based on the first two members he met. He never got to know them beforehand, contrasting to his boss. Doc knew all of them down to their zodiac and the color of outfit they wore to senior prom (if they graduated, that is).

    Of course Doc chose a crew of cats this round.

    There cats were going to make this rat their catnip toy, and Baby had to sit on the sidelines and watch.

    Something in Baby felt a tinge of pity for whoever this rat was. Getting tracked down by Doc and given the one-two was one thing, but having him hire a whole crew specifically to find someone... There could be blood.

    Maybe this rat was just as much of a kid as Baby was. He couldn't reason that, unlike his 12 year old self, the rat was unaware what they were doing was _wrong_ (considering the items being found on the black market). But, just maybe, this was a kid who needed money.

    There was no stopping Doc once he made a plan, however. He was on the path of revenge at the moment, all he wanted was to get his money back.

    Maybe he didn't care whether the rat lived or died, but it's hard to get a ransom on a dead body. Making money up would be difficult.

    Doc went on to point out to the last member, Tabby, that his job was to make sure the rat got back alive. They didn't have to be completely intelligent and have all their blood, but they had to be breathing.

    "It's hard to get ransom on a dead body," Baby saw Doc mouth.

    Sometimes his assumptions about what his boss would say scared him. He had been working with him for years, so of course he knew his speaking patterns, knew which metaphors he would use and which literals he would punch out. He could write a note and sign it 'Doc' and no one would be the wiser.

    As the meeting scattered out, Baby was left once again with Doc. The plan was to regroup the next day, and Doc would spend the night at his gig bedroom to make sure nothing more was gone by the time they could take action.

    They were going to get this rat. Baby knew this, There was no other alternative.

    Doc made his way over to loom over Baby from the other side of the table. Baby looked up, eyes looking all over him to keep from having to look at his face. That stuff was always complicated for him to do.

    “Treat this as a normal gig, Baby. Everyone’s going to get their cut.”

    “does someone get a reward if they bring them in themself?”

    Doc’s face shifted before going back to neutral at Baby’s low curiosity.

    “you know. like the wild west.”

    “As I said, Baby, this is a normal gig. Everyone gets their cut. No reason for someone to get all the damn glory.”

    Baby shifted and squared up a little in his seat.

    “so what do you want me to do?” Hopefully nothing to do with getting hands-on with whoever it was.

    Baby had convinced himself that this was just a kid. He wanted to be there to see what happened, but he didn’t want to cause it.

    “Get them coffee when they ask tomorrow, help bring the weapons in, the normal pre-shit. You know the deal.”

    Baby did know the deal, he had been at the meeting for all of it.

    They were going to get the rat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "DON'T HESITATE" RAT BOY - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bghQ_EhBpGk


	2. Warning Signs

    The next day, Baby was the coffee jockey, just like he always was.He had already brought in three cups of coffee for them pre-meeting, Sabertooth cursing him under his breath for the coffee being slightly cold.

    Baby didn’t hear a thing. His music was too busy blasting.

    Plus, with Sabertooth muttering, his head down, staring madly at the coffee as if it’d heat it up, Baby had no idea what he was saying. He can’t read lips if someone isn’t even bothering to make their mouth seen.

    There was no point in figuring out what he was trying to insult Baby with.

    By this point, everyone had filtered into the meeting room. Half an hour ago, they had laid the bait. Baby wasn’t there for that.

    Baby had spent the morning in the meeting room waiting.

    Doc had already let everyone know that there would be a waiting time. They had to stay still, act like everything was normal, trying to convince the rat to come out.

    The whole point of this, he explained, was to trick the rat into thinking this was a normal day.

    It absolutely wasn’t.

    Adjusting his shades, Baby sat in his normal backseat and watched as the three little kittens bickered and discussed everything from past jobs to-

    “the coffee was absolute shit.”

    Alright. Sabertooth was deciding to let his voice be heard to anyone but the person who brought him the coffee.

    Baby set his feet on the table, leaning back. He was trying to act as relaxed as possible. Any moment, however, he could get up and go get less-shitty coffee. That was his job, and he didn’t want to be assigned something else for lazing around.

    Right now he was waiting for-

    “Hey lackey,” Pussycat snapped her perfectly manicured fingers and pointed at her cup. Next to it was, Baby assumed, Sabertooth’s cup as well.

    “More coffee.” Her smile was a chesire one. Baby noted how damn wide it was.

    Hoping up onto his feet, he smoothly made his way to pick up both cups and gave Pussycat a nod to let her know he was on it.

    She didn’t notice. Instead, she turned to Sabertooth. “Wasn’t expecting him to actually hear us. I assumed he was deaf, blind and dumb.”

    She spoke so clear that Baby had to lip read all of it, whether he wanted to or not.

    He knew this wasn’t his place. He knew that if Doc heard that, he would be defending him, so defending himself wasn't his job.

    Moving away from Pussycat, music blasting in his ears, Baby made his way to the trashcan near the door. When the beat hit, he practically chucked the semi-filled cups into the can with perfect timing.

    Out the door he went and on his way to the coffee shop.

    There, he was a regular. They always knew he wanted black coffees (Doc wouldn’t allow any less), and to put it on a tab. They always had to ask, however, how many he got. That was it explanation wise.

    He left in under 10 minutes with four coffee and his name perfectly written on each, white lid.

    Two for the folks who complained, one for the one who didn’t, and one for Doc.

    Baby didn’t drink coffee.

    He followed his normal pathway through the streets of Peachtree Center, it being too early for crowds but always people making their ways from hotels they indulge in to restaurants below the belt in quality.

    When he got to the building he considered his own work, he saw someone who made him freeze.

    It was like looking at an alternative universe of himself. Standing right next to the door across the street, unclear whether he was going in or out, was a man about roughly his age.

    This man wore the same white t-shirt Baby did, but no jacket. He had the same brown hair, but it had curls. Earbuds that were bright blue and dollar-store quality in contrast to the Apple ones Doc always got Baby. He was wearing shades as well.

    To Baby’s surprised, he waved, and started to move his hand.

    <you hearing you?>

    No one had ever signed at him before. But this man was not only signing at him, but also using his left hand.

    <so-so.>

    <you name b-a-b-y you?>

    He knew grammatics too. This was something Baby felt himself ease comfort into that knowledge told him not to.

    <yes>

    <i know you> He laughs, a stupid grin on his face while he signs.

    <i know boss>

    He’s almost bragging. It’s not a brag that rubs Baby the wrong way, though. It’s confidence, not cockiness.

    <boss? how?>

    <fun>

    Fun.

    Wait.

    Baby’s eyes went wide when it finally dawned on him who this parody double of him was.

    <you rat you>

    <rat?> He’s laughing again.

    <boss mad!> Baby doesn’t know why he’s telling this to him. Maybe it’s because they look so similar, the last thing Baby wants is another Baby. This kid probably has a family too, or has a life, has anything, and there should be a version of Baby that isn’t wrapped up in this mess.

    The coffee is getting cold. Baby doesn’t care.

    <mad? don’t care>

    Neither did this kid, but for a whole different reason.

    <you name what?> Maybe Baby could stop this, he just needed a name-

    <r-a-t>

    Dammit.

    Baby doesn’t feel comfortable moving closer to where ‘Rat’ is. If he goes over, and anyone on the crew catches them- at the end of the day with everything figured out, Baby would be accused of being a co-conspirator.

    <you steal why?>

    <money>

    So, Baby was right. It was for money. This kid was making thousands on the market for the sole purpose of making money. He could assume several things from this response, and from the rat’s ripped jeans, his drug-store shades, his dollar-store earbuds. Money wasn’t in surplus.

    The coffee couldn’t get too cold or else this whole trip would be worthless. Baby had to end this conversation fast.

    <you careful>

    <o-k>

    His stupid smile as Baby moved past him. He stayed out of Baby’s way and he stayed in his place. All he did was watch.

    Heading for the elevator, Baby was in a complete daze. Okay, so. He had just met the man that Doc wanted the head of. He had just met him, and he looked like this alternate version of himself. He also wasn’t wearing a jacket in the middle of October. He was making a bunch of stupid decisions at an age that a normal person wouldn’t. He wasn’t a young kid like Baby had been.

    Baby, without meaning to, had found the rat, and didn’t even bring him in.


	3. Rat got Your Tongue

    Now was the waiting game. 

    Baby had come back in with the lukewarm coffee, much to the annoyance of two kitties. His business wasn’t trying to please them at this point.

    Thankfully, he was always silent. He was thankful for this because if he did speak, he wouldn’t be able to say anything except the rat.

    He wouldn’t be able to say anything except Rat.

    God, the kid wasn’t even part of a crew yet, and he had already picked out a name for himself.

    Baby fumbled out one of the toy cars he kept on his desk. This would be a good enough distraction, plus the music blasting in his ears, so he wouldn’t have to answer anything from the crew or from Doc.

    Part of him hoped that Rat wouldn’t get caught. Not only because he reminded Baby of himself, meaning he had a family, meaning he had a life before all of this, but because he would be in a massive amount of debt if he left alive.

    Baby had been keeping track of the debt he owed. At this point, he was extremely close to paying all of it off. He was almost out of here, finished with worrying Joe, finished with the cops, finished with the shady business, finished with Doc.

    But if Rat came in now, he’d be nearing his forties before his debt got close to done. Not everyone was Doc, not everyone could be in the business until then and still be alive.

    Dead or alive, this was a trap for Rat. Baby could only hope that he was smart enough to not get caught.

    For the next hour, everyone had to wait. 

    At some point, Pussycat started playing her own music on speaker. She got cursed out by Sabertooth for her awful tastes in music as P!nk filled the meeting room. Baby had a moment of battling music as she turned up her tunes in response.

    Tabby wasn’t in the room currently. As the plan had gone, he had relocated to watching where the gun had been placed. Baby knew jackshit about the type of gun it was, but it looked big and expensive. Pussycat had been going on and on about it to Doc, like she wanted pets and praise for picking it out.

    Baby flicked the car back and forth on his hide-away desk. It rolled, hit one of his iPods, bounced, then rolled back. It was a pattern that Baby was able to keep his hands occupied with.

    His mind went back to Rat. The kid knew ASL as fluently as Baby did. Why the hell did he know ASL? Was he part of the Deaf community as well? Did he had someone like Baby had Joe?  _ How the hell did he know to sign to Baby in the first place? _

    Taking note of the room, the two of the crew seemed to have settled down. Pussycat was looking through her phone, Sabertooth was messing with his hair, and Doc looked the same that he always did. He was alert and waiting, unlike the two people he had hired.

    Baby watched as Doc’s face shifted from that alert but calm to extremely alert. He banged on the table, shaking both of those sitting into looking up. All three of them had their eyes locked on a specific part of the room.

    Swerving, Baby turned to try to find where their eyes locked. It wasn’t hard, considering it was a whole person making his way through the meeting room.

    Oh God, Rat.

    The kid Baby had seen outside made his way calmly through the room. His hands were behind his back, clutched onto the wrist of the other, locking them together. He was making himself vulnerable with no reason to do so. He was walking into a lion’s den without any protection.

    Just as calmly, he got onto his knees in front of Doc. His head tilted up, locking on the biggest man in the room.

    Doc reached behind him and Baby had completely forgotten he kept a pistol on him at all times.

    He cocked and locked it on the rat’s head. Baby couldn’t see it, but he could only assume there was a smile there.

    Baby turned down his music slightly, because there was no way he could read lips in this position. He wanted to hear what the rat had to say.

    “Who the hell do you think you are.”

    “‘m the rat you’ve been looking for.”

    The confidence and steadiness in his tone was something Baby had to respect. He could get his brains blown out any minute, but he was cool and collected.

    “And you think you can waltz in here, after all the trouble you’ve caused my business, and gravel at my knees?”

    “i don’t think i’m graveling, sir. i just don’t want you’ta think there’s a weapon on me. the one ya so kindly set up for me is too big to lug in here anyway unless i had plans to blow this whole joint to Hell.”

    “You’re an idiot, kid. But, you have balls. I hope you’re aware that this gun is loaded and ready to fire.”

    “you can’t get ransom on a dead body.”

    Baby blinked. It wasn’t exact, but it was a mimic of what Doc had said earlier. How long had Rat been in their building? How much had he heard? How much did he know?

    He could see it in Doc’s eyes that Doc wondered the same thing. “so i have a proposition for you,”

    Oh no. No, no, this was exactly what Baby didn’t want to hear.

    Maybe this was what Doc wanted to hear, however. He uncocked the pistol and pushed it back where he hid it.

    “i’m bored of working by myself. i want to work with you, with your crew, as the person who gets you all your weapons and info. you don’t need a third party with me around,”

    Rat sounded rehearsed, he spoke so smoothly.

    “because clearly, i’m the best there is. i mean, you had to spend… thousands of dollars on one gun to try to lure me out, and here i am, on my knees, ‘graveling’, no gun to be seen on me,”

    Baby couldn’t help but wonder if this was the plan the whole time.

    “You wouldn’t be working for me for free.”

    “i know, i’ve caused too much damage, huh?”

    Doc thought about it for a moment. The normally chatty kittens had been silent the whole conversation. Everyone here had some level of respect for their boss, and this was a one-on-one meeting that a peanut gallery need not attend.

    He stepped back, away from Rat.

    “Stand up.”

    That the rat did, unraveling his locked hands, and held one out.

    This was a deal that was really taking place. The last thing that Baby had hoped for his doppelgänger, the last thing he could imagine anyone wanting, was the closing deal.

    Doc shook it with the firm grip he always had.

    “Do you have a name?”

    “rat.”

    “Rat,” Doc echoed. He rolled it around in his head, his expression reading completely unsurprised.

    “n i know yours.”

    “Good, then there’s no need for pointless introductions.” Turning from his new debtor to his employees, Doc readjusted himself. 

    “I want this room empty in the next two minutes. All of you will recieve your pay, so don’t come whining to me about ripping you off. Pussycat,” Through the movements of everyone scurrying to get up, Doc looked over at the chick. “Go grab your fuckbuddy out of the waiting room. Tell him exactly what I told you about the pay, and nothing more.”

    Usually, Doc liked Baby to stay after a little longer than the crew. Whether this was a visual reminder to them that Baby was special, or just a way for Doc to talk to him about specific matters, Baby didn’t know. He assumed it was a mix of both, though.

    Doc already had someone to talk to about specific matters. Rat fidgeting with the skin on his fingers, knowing this as well.

    “Baby, you can consider this an early leave today. I’ll call your burner.” He made a motion with his hands matching ‘call’ when he said it. Rat turned in his direction as well, enough so Baby had a clear shot of the front of his body.

    He then started to sign.

   <bye b-a-b-y>

    The smile on his face wasn’t the same as the one he gave earlier. Something about it to Baby read softness, or actual kindness, like he wasn’t the complete prideful douchebag he came into the meeting room as.

    Baby waved, put an earbud in, and made his way out.

    Maybe the rat was going to be okay after all.


End file.
